Scared passenger grounds flight

Mumbai: He was taking to the skies for the first time. But just before his flight could take off, the passenger on board a Kingfisher Airlines plane from Mumbai to Bhuj got the jitters and kicked up a fuss, forcing the pilot to turn around.
Flight IT-3126 was taxiing towards runway 09-27 at 12:35pm when Rupesh Shah got a panic attack. "The aircraft was on the taxiway when the passenger suddenly said he was feeling unwell," said an airline source. "He told the crew he wanted to get off the plane.He told them he was flying for the first time and was scared of heights."
The crew tried to pacify Shah, but the fact that he could only speak Gujarati made things worse, said the source. Shah kept yelling at the crew, saying he just wanted to get off the plane.
The captain then sought permission from air traffic control (ATC) to return. The flight returned to the terminal and the passenger was handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) with a letter from the airline that the passenger did not want to travel. "We did not detain the passenger," a senior CISF officer said. All the 120 passengers also had to disembark. The flight eventually took off at 6:05pm.
16/04/09 Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Airports Apr 2009, Kingfisher Apr 2009